


Camp Artemisia

by Aceofstars16



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: AU, F/M, Multi, Other, Summer Camp AU, childhood prompt, tlc ship weeks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 20:58:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5716879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aceofstars16/pseuds/Aceofstars16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which all the TLC characters go to Camp Artemisa. This AU focuses on Cinder who isn't enjoying her time at camp, but with the help of her brother Thorne she ends up making lots of new friends!<br/>Written for TLC Shipweeks 2016</p>
            </blockquote>





	Camp Artemisia

Cinder hated summer camp. She didn’t know anyone in her cabin; everyone seemed to give her strange looks and she had no clue why. It’s not like she wasn’t trying to make friends but everyone else seemed like they already knew each other and she was the odd ball out. It had only been a week and she already wanted to go home, but she knew she couldn’t. That would be a waste of money and surely the whole summer wouldn’t be like this right?

A knock at the door shook Cinder out of her thoughts and she quickly looked up, surprised to see her brother Thorne standing in the doorway. She had barely seen him during the whole past week since the camp was divided by age, the younger group – ages twelve to fifteen - did all the other activities while the older group did their own thing. She didn’t even know if Thorne was allowed to be in this area of camp, but she did know she was happy to see him.

“Hi…” she said quietly, not even bothering with teasing him, she just wasn’t in the mood.

“Man you look down in the dumps,” he said, walking over to her bed and sitting on it without even asking permission. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t see how you would know, you’ve been too busy flirting with all the girls…”

“I haven’t flirted with all of them… yet. But just because I’ve been doing my own thing doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping tabs on you. If you are fine then that’s ok but I’ve known you long enough to know that you aren’t so spill.”

Cinder bit her lip, she really didn’t want to talk, but keeping it all to herself was making her miserable, “I don’t fit in here! None of the other girls even seem to like me! I didn’t even want to come to this camp in the first place and…I just want to go home…”

Her voice trailed off at the last word and she looked away, trying to fight the tears that were building up in her eyes. She didn’t want to complain, she wanted to like camp, but how could she like a place where all the other kids seemed to hate her?

“Aww Cinder, the first week is always the hardest, you’ll get through it and I guarantee by the end you will have tons of new friends! You just have to give them a chance, smile more, make an effort, I know you can do that,” Thorne said, punching her playfully on the arm, but Cinder didn’t react.

She knew he was right, but that didn’t make things any easier. “Could you…help me? Make friends and stuff?” Cinder didn’t want to ask for help, she wanted to just brush it off and be herself but she just couldn’t and even if Thorne could be annoying at times she knew he was great at making friends so maybe he could help her make a few too.

Thorne put his arm around her in a side hug, “Of course I can! Nothing would stop me from helping my sis make some friends. How about we go down to the campfire and I’ll introduce you to a few of the kids I’ve met, sound like a plan?”

Cinder nodded slowly, “Ok…I’ll give it a shot…”

“Atta girl, now come on, we don’t want to miss the s’mores!”

\------------

“Hey Cinder, you wanna go swimming with us? We were just heading to the lake!”

Cinder looked up from her craft – which was a failed attempt at a watercolor painting – and saw Iko standing outside of the pavilion. After that night at the campfire things had started to look up. Thorne had introduced her to a few of his friends, both new friends that he had only made this year and old friends who he had known ever since he had first come to Camp Artemisia. Cinder had still been hesitant, especially around the boys who she could barely even see in the low light of the campfire, but soon she started talking with a few girls, Scarlet, Cress, Winter, and Iko. Iko was the bubbliest of them all and for some reason she and Cinder had really clicked, so much so that Iko had started jokingly calling Cinder her best friend.

“Sure! Just let me grab my suit and I’ll meet you guys down there!” Cinder said, leaving her watercolor mess on the table and rushing to her cabin.

Down at the lake she saw Iko was already in the water, splashing Scarlet and quickly swimming away before the redhead could retaliate. Winter was on the beach making a sand castle and Cress was sitting under an umbrella, most likely reading a book. There were a few other kids playing on the beach, some of which she faintly recognized from the campfire but she could not recall their names so she simply rushed past them and raced into the water.

The icy cold liquid pinched her feet and she grinned before racing in, yelling at Iko as her friend splashed her from further in the water. Soon Cinder was stuck in a water war between Iko and Scarlet, sending waves of water at one of them before diving away to avoid the same fate.

She didn’t know how long they had been swimming when a voice shouted from the shore.

“Who’s up for a little competition? Losers buy snacks for the winners!”

A chorus of agreement rose from the water and the beach, which Cinder heartily joined in on. And just as she suspected when she looked towards shore she spotted Thorne standing on the sand and even from this distance she could tell he was grinning playfully.

Once everyone was on shore, they split up into teams, guys versus girls. The game was a simple relay race - each person from each team would complete a different activity, such as throwing a water balloon at a target or hitting a volleyball five times in a row. Only once one teammate had finished their activity could the other one start and whoever finished first won.

Cinder didn’t pay much attention to boys, she only glanced at them to how the girls were doing against them. She cheered on her team as she waited for her activity, which happened to be the last one – swimming to the buoys and back. It was an evenly matched competition and Cinder could feel her heart pounding as her turn got closer and closer. Cress slipped up in her event which resulted in them falling behind a bit so by the time Cinder hit the water the boys had a head start.

Once in the frigid lake, Cinder started swimming as hard and fast as she could, her feet kicked the water, her hands pulled at it, propelling her forward, getting closer to the boy. As hard as she tried though she couldn’t seem to get close enough, the boy still had the lead, but she didn’t give up. He reached the buoy and started swimming back, she urged herself to swim faster, but that didn’t do her much good. The boy was a good swimmer, better than her.  She didn’t think there was much hope at all, but she tried her best. Alas her best was not good enough.

By the time she reached the beach the boys were celebrating and she was exhausted. Iko came up to her quickly and helped her sit up.

“Great effort out there! You almost had him!” she grinned as she handed Cinder a water bottle.

Only after taking a long drink did she smile back.

“We would’ve won if I hadn’t messed up,” Cress said dejectedly as Cinder walked up to the rest of the girls.

“Don’t say that, you did fine, and it’s not like it was a life or death experience, if was just for fun,” Scarlet said as Winter patted Cress’ back in comfort and Cinder was about to offer her own thoughts to the matter when an unfamiliar voice spoke.

“Great job out there, I was sure you were going to catch me by the end.”

Turning around Cinder froze. It was the boy she had been racing against, but now she was actually looking at him closely and she could feel her cheeks growing red. He had a warm smile and brown eyes that emanated kindness. His hand was extended, offering a handshake but Cinder couldn’t move her arm.

“Ohh Cindy likes you Kai,” Thorne said, grinning as he placed his arm on Kai’s back, “I’d be careful if I were you, she can be a handful.”

Thorne’s words made Cinder’s cheeks grown even warmer, but they also managed to snap her out of her frozen state, “I’m the handful? I do recall you are the one who takes an hour to get ready in the morning,” she shot back, directing her gaze at Thorne and trying her best not to look at Kai again because she didn’t know what her body would do if she did.

“I do not!” Thorne protested quickly which only made Cinder grin.

“Uh I’ve lived with you how many years? Yes, you do, and half the time you are just singing and your pitch is always way off,” Cinder teased back, glad to be focusing on Thorne and not her embarrassing reaction to officially meeting Kai.

Now it was Thorne’s turn to blush, which resulted in him quickly changing the subject, “You know I think it’s time for the girls to buy the guys some snacks.”

“Agreed, I’m thinking two snacks per person,” one of the boys said.

“What? How dare-” Iko started but was cut off by Kai.

“Great idea Kinney, that way the girls can eat too,” he said, giving an apologetic smile to Iko, who quickly started blushing herself.

Kinney looked like he wanted to protest but Kai seemed to be the designated leader of the guys and thus he wasn’t questioned. Soon everyone was settled around a large table outside of The Rampion Stop -the small snack bar in the camp.

 As they snacked and chatted Cinder glanced around the table at all of her new friends and acquaintances, smiling, laughing, and occasionally glaring at one another. A smile slowly started playing on her lips and she found herself remembering Thorne’s words, the first week really was the hardest, maybe this camp wouldn’t be so bad after all. She caught Kai’s eye he smiled at her and she forced herself to smile back, hoping her cheeks weren’t too red. Iko’s laugh resonated around the table and soon everyone was joining in though no one seemed to know why they were laughing about. No, this summer wasn’t going to be bad at all and Cinder found herself wishing that it would never end.


End file.
